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Who's your surprise player of the year (Vikings) so far? For me it'd have to be Mackenzie Alexander.

He was pretty abysmal in the preseason but has been either invisible (in a good way) or making the occasional PBU. Teams don't seem to be targeting him either, which is a little shocking given his preseason.

Remmers is a close second for me. He hasn't been as bad as I expected.

Gedeon for sure. He's playing well for a rookie. Keenum has really taken the offense and commanded it well. CJ Ham has looked solid.

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I'll also put Robison on the list. He has taken his new role and done very good with it.

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For me it's the O-line.

Only 9 sacks allowed in 6 games, with 117 ypg on the ground using what has turned into running back by committee. When Dalvin Cook went down, any rational person would have expected a dropoff in production on the ground. Instead, we've gained MORE yards (135.5 ypg), with Jerick McKinnon turning in two excellent games. The line has stepped up.

Specifically, I'm surprised by how well Riley Reiff is playing. I knew he'd be an upgrade, but he's playing at an extremely high level, probably the best of his career.

There are several candidates, but there can be only one. Case Keenum. If prior to the season someone would tell us Bradford would only have played 1 and half games and the Vikes would be 4-2 you'd have called them crazy.

He hasn't lit the world on fire aside from the one game against the Bucs, but he has provided a really good game manager for the team and more than held up his end.

J. Kapp 11 wrote:For me it's the O-line.

Only 9 sacks allowed in 6 games, with 117 ypg on the ground using what has turned into running back by committee. When Dalvin Cook went down, any rational person would have expected a dropoff in production on the ground. Instead, we've gained MORE yards (135.5 ypg), with Jerick McKinnon turning in two excellent games. The line has stepped up.

Specifically, I'm surprised by how well Riley Reiff is playing. I knew he'd be an upgrade, but he's playing at an extremely high level, probably the best of his career.

THIS!

Also McKinnon is showing that he has always had juice, but the OL was too much of a hurdle to overcome. He has been huge for us the past two weeks.

When is Tony Sparano Appreciation Day?

Reiff, he went from RT the last couple years to LT and his name doesn't get said much (a good thing if you are OL)

Agreed with those that say the whole OL. I am surprised that they've improved as much as they have from last year's abysmal performance. Glad it's working.

Pat Elfein

J. Kapp 11 wrote:For me it's the O-line.

Only 9 sacks allowed in 6 games, with 117 ypg on the ground using what has turned into running back by committee. When Dalvin Cook went down, any rational person would have expected a dropoff in production on the ground. Instead, we've gained MORE yards (135.5 ypg), with Jerick McKinnon turning in two excellent games. The line has stepped up.

Specifically, I'm surprised by how well Riley Reiff is playing. I knew he'd be an upgrade, but he's playing at an extremely high level, probably the best of his career.

I think it makes it even more impressive when you take into consideration that four (roughly half of the total number on the year!) of those sacks came against a Bradford who could barely walk out there against the Bears. O line has been night and day compared to last year!

dead_poet wrote:Who's your surprise player of the year (Vikings) so far? For me it'd have to be Mackenzie Alexander.

He was pretty abysmal in the preseason but has been either invisible (in a good way) or making the occasional PBU. Teams don't seem to be targeting him either, which is a little shocking given his preseason.

Remmers is a close second for me. He hasn't been as bad as I expected.

Good call on Alexander. Remmers as well. Alexander should have no problem filling the "Newman role" when he decides to retire.

Reiff is one for me. Coming in, there was a lot of complaining from Detroit fans about him. However, he has been extremely solid for us.

Elflein too. I figured he would be good but man, I've never seen an OL get out into space as quick as him. Somebody on draft day said it, he'll easily be a 10+ year starter in this league

I agree with everybody said here, but I want to point out a player we all knew would be good but probably not this good.

Everson Griffen. Emmersome Bigguns is not just meeting expectations but rather he is smashing expectations! He's got at least 1 sack in the last 6 games. If he does this in the next 3 games he breaks a franchise record that has stood since the 70s. He'll probably get 70 or 80 tackles and like 17 or 18 sacks.

Hunter Morrow wrote:I agree with everybody said here, but I want to point out a player we all knew would be good but probably not this good.

Everson Griffen. Emmersome Bigguns is not just meeting expectations but rather he is smashing expectations! He's got at least 1 sack in the last 6 games. If he does this in the next 3 games he breaks a franchise record that has stood since the 70s. He'll probably get 70 or 80 tackles and like 17 or 18 sacks.

Yeah he's been unreal. Hunter has been quiet but what I've noticed with Hunter is that he is always getting pressures, just not coming up with sacks. Robison did the same thing a few years ago before Hunter got here. Granted, that DE spot is alot tougher because the QBs can see you coming vs. coming from Griffens spot which is the blind side

How about the Great Barrier Reiff?

157 pass blocking plays for him, and he has allowed zero sacks. Only Joe Thomas and Trent Williams have done that.

O-line play has no question been the biggest single thing in the teams improvement. The run D is a close second. The defense is on the edge of being dominant. The offensive scheme and player fits to that scheme has also been HUGE! Its fun to watch them when defenses aren't expecting run run pass. Like Bradford or not......they have really only played one game with an NFL quality starting QB this year. Don't get me wrong, Keenum has played really well and its about the most you can expect out of a back up QB in this league, but he is no Bradford or Bridgewater. Would have been fun to see how things would have been without the Bradford injury. I think Speilman, Zimmer and Staff deserve a lot of credit as well for putting together a solid roster and system that has been able overcome some pretty major adversity thus far.